Inlay work is the Mughal Art done by Artisans in Agra (Uttar Pradesh) since Mughal period. This art is inspired from the great monuments Taj Mahal which was built during Mughal period by Shahjahan. Inlay work done on Marble is of semiprecious stone like lapis luzli, malachite, cornelian, mother of pearl, coral, turquoise and many other semi precious stones.
Artisan makes a design of flowers, borders leaves in different shapes on the product made up of marble by hand than they choose the semiprecious stone of different color to give a natural look according to the design.
Artisans use only hand tools for making marble inlay products. All the different shapes like leaves, flowers, borders etc. are created by hand by the skilled craftsmen. It nearly takes a day to create a small flower in semi precious stone.
After completing the design with semi precious stones, the Artisan fit small pieces of semi precious stones in Marble with the help of small iron pin tool called (TAAKI) and fix stone pieces with the paste made up of glue and stone powder. It takes almost a month to complete one tile or plate like 12 x 12 inches.
After fixing all pieces of the design they make the level equal with the help of sand paper and then they do polishing by hand to make them shiny and beautiful. Decorative and utility product like table top, plates, jewelry boxes, pen and card holder, vases etc. are famous for inlay work.
